Sunday, October 12, 2008

there is so much i want to share. what i am learning...how God is carrying us through the sadness...how full of simple joy our days have been lately. and yet i know that writing that post may take longer than i have right now. i am doing well--clearly not because of my own stability, but most definitely because of God's mercy and grace...His faithful love is carrying us through this...teaching us, comforting us, upholding us. we have been blessed beyond measure by the arrival of meals, cards, flowers...the offers of babysitting...and on and on. perhaps one of the things God has used most as a balm to our aching hearts is our sweet girls...and the love of others who have gone through miscarriages (not to in any way detract from the love and encouragement of those who haven't been there). last night we had a game night with friends (friends who we've just recently gotten to know...who also happened to have miscarried last spring), and it was such a blessing to just be together...to laugh, to share, to grieve together, to know they too have been there. good stuff. i am praying that this week i might finally be able to tackle some of the everyday "stuff" that has been building up...

but for now i simply wanted to show you a slice of our weekend...our trip on the pumpkin train today. we went to church early, grabbed some lunch, and then headed for the choo-choo! we met some of our library time friends and along with pumpkins, tractors, and choo-choos we also had a little birthday celebration for libs. fun times! we took a real train ride (on the train in the picture at the start of the post!) for about 15-20 minutes to a pumpkin patch, petting zoo, and straw maze...and, of course, much to elizabeth's delight there were some tractors there as well! anyway...here are some glimpses of our fun. (can you believe it was 80 degrees...not quite the autumn weather we were expecting when we reserved our tickets...but fun nonetheless!).

three excited train riders!

kate--taking in the sceneryour five little pumpkinslibs and daddy checking out the pumpkinskate and mommylovin' my girlstractor drivin' sisters

elizabeth with her carefully selected pumpkindaddy and his gatorsittin' on the choo choo

libbers and the BIG tractor...i think this might have been her favorite moment of the daythe fam!i think i made it into more pictures today than i have in the past year!and, of course, presents for the birthday girl!

Oh, that looked like so much fun! I wish there was stuff like that for us to do here Noah is so inlove with trains its not even funny lolAnd so glad to see you smiling thorugh it all, Amanda. Gorgeous family you all are:D

Sounds like an amazing party:) And I love it that you share all your pictures with us. Its like we were acutally there!

The little slippers that I made started out with these, http://www.heatherbaileydesign.com/Booties.html

I started out with this pattern for the first pair. I just changed the pattern a little bit. I rounded the front of the opening to make it look a little more like a slipper (just cut a u shape out where the line is cut). Then I lined it with a softer fabric on the inside using directions from a craft book I have. Let me know if you want me to type them out for you. Hopefully that patter will help you out.

Another cute thing I saw to help them stay on right is to sew two ribbons so they come out the top kind of like this, http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=7886562

except they had two ribbons and tied them on the top.

Let me know if you want me to take a picture of how I changed the pattern and email it to you. I'm not very good at describing:)

Oh Amanda - seeing that smile on your face is so uplifting! :) Beautiful and a true reflection of God;'s mercy in your life!So glad the card was an encrouragement. Did you love the crayon scribbles in it? :) Love and hugs

Hey, I am Jacy's sister and just created my own blogging account so I was thumbing through her friends and read this post, Recently a wonderful friend of mine had her baby and lost it through the first night as it was born with lots of difficulies, for the last year I think she has seriously been through a major state of depression and this month at a service God was moving so strong and people started going to different people in the church during song service praying for one another and the next day at the womans prayer meeting she got up and testified, she said that as she was being prayed for somthing broke in her spirit and she finally felt that joy through Christ that she had missed through this pass year and now will learn to be an over comberand was so thankfor for have the lord as her father... Lord help us to except the things life throws at us we cant understand and hold fast to the scripture that guides our footsteps, to trust and love in you even when tragic pulls us down, help us all to go back to the foot of the cross where your grace is there to lift us up agian... You dont have to post this by no means but I wanted to say I am praying for you and believing if God can do it for others he will do it for you...God Bless you and your beautiful family!

Check out my favorite freezer cooking recipes!

Visit My Etsy Shop--aGatoraMonkeyandaPug

apparently i'm overdue on updating my profile (or so my own mama says). so...here goes...daughter of the King of kings, wife to michael, mommy to elizabeth (6 1/2), kate (4 1/2), jilly (2 1/2) and luke (almost 1!). officially among the ranks of those people...you know, the crazy homeschooling kind...dialectic lit/comp teacher one day a week...crafter...reader...friend...and so, so much more. :)